Page:The Spirit of the Nation.djvu/78

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66
SPIRIT OF THE NATION.

V.

"Finghin's race shall be freed
From the Norman's cruel breed—
My sires freed Bearra once before,
When the Barnwells were strewn
On the fields, like hay in June,
And but one of them escaped from our shore, from our shore,
And but one of them escaped from our shore."[1]


VI.

And, warming in his dream,
He floats on victory's stream,
Till Desmond—till all Erin is free,
Then, how calmly he'd go down,
Full of years and of renown,
To his grave near that castle by the sea, by the sea,
To his grave near that castle by the sea!


VII.

But the wind heard his word,
As though he were its lord,
And the ship is dash'd up the Bay.
Alas! for that proud barque,
The night has fallen dark,
'Tis too late to Adragool to bear away, bear away,
'Tis too late to Adragool to bear away.


VIII.

Black and rough was the rock,
And terrible the shock,
As the good ship crashed asunder;
And bitter was the cry,
And the sea ran mountains high,
And the wind was as loud as the thunder, the thunder,
And the wind was as loud as the thunder.


  1. The Barnwells were Normans who seized Bear in the reign of Henry II., but were all cut off by the O'Sullivans, save one—the ancestor of the Lords Kingsland, Trimblestone, &c.